SAND bikepacking route Segment 2 – part 2
From our rest town of Garies we needed to rejoin the route on our map. There were various options and we chose the shortest – a small dotted line on our map that we hoped would not be a long cut. Of the 16km track we only had to push a shortish distance.
It was great riding and scenery, and, climbing out of a small creek I suddenly found myself within a metre of a large black cobra crossing in front of my wheel. Alan caught up and saw it slither to a nearby rock, check us out again by rising & flaring before slithering away. I fumbled my phone to try and get a photo but with no luck. We had been told we would not see any snakes as it is winter, so that was a wake up call.
Arriving in Tweerivier the head wind was at 35-40kmph so we took a break. There is no agriculture in the small town and most people (a coloured community) survive on government benefits. The shop owner was from Bangladesh of all places.
We had 16km and a steep 600 vertical metres to go, so we biked and pushed on slowly into the winds. It was a long afternoon to the wild camp amongst the granite outcrops.
We were up and over the pass and eating microwaved pies from Anita’s tuck shop in Leliefontein the next morning which was followed by some excellent travel through another scenic minor track. The day finished at the Pedroskloof farm accomodation we had organised. Sulene was a very energetic host and we found ourselves lapping up a little luxury at the farm. Her husband was a long time Namaqualand farmer and could answer all our questions. I traded quince recipes with Sulene.
We found out that our snake was a black spitting cobra with a 3m range of venom spit from its fangs. They aim for the eyes and mouth and the venom can cause blindness. It does also bite but less often. We filed that info away and decided to wear our sunglasses more. We found out more about the baboons (not to be messed with) and after commenting on the corrugated roads he told us that one had more chance of seeing rain (in this very dry climate) than a grader.
Next morning we followed a private farm track out the back of their place to join minor roads through the red granite Kamiesberg range. The domed outcrops were just asking to be scrambled up in friction climbing shoes. We were tired so had left late and we stopped early at what we named Baboon Camp. Their gutteral screaming from the outcrops on the other side of the small valley is not pleasant and we kept checking they were keeping their distance.
Smooth roads and a gem of a wee roadhouse filled in a morning the next day. We crossed the N7 highway a mere 20km from Springbok, and on another private track increased our distance from Springbok which is the end point of this Namaqualand segment.
I pondered that the definition of a bike packing route must be not taking the shortest line between 2 points on the map.
We camped above the ruins of an old prison, built by the prisoners. They also built the well engineered road we travelled. The English civil engineer shot himself when his wife turned up a few years after he left the mother country to find him living with a Nam(akwa) woman. For us it was a peaceful night with a full moon, no baboons and no ghosts.
The next day was spent up on the tops, on good undulating roads through many gates separating farm properties. At the high point the note on the GPS track says “off road from here till Buffelsrivier”. The route started very vague and Alan was sceptical, but it goes and the track became less vague. It was a very rough 600m descent to the valley floor. Luckily for us we have wider tyres but it was not easy.
It didn’t help when a black cobra crossed right in front of Alan’s front wheel. He managed to dismount, drop the bike and run clear of the spitting range. I was not far behind and saw it early enough. The snake slithered under Alan’s bike (perhaps checking out the snake like tyres) and then moved away. The photographer in me wanted a photo, but to get my phone meant getting within range! We were sobered by the 2nd close encounter as we walked & rode down to the small town Buffelsrivier.
We camped at a property next to the N355 paved road to Springbok. Rattled by the last snake encounter and not able to get permission to ride the next private road section (because of succulent plant poaching), we hightailed it to Springbok, only 40km away, but over 1200m of climbing.
Namaqualand has the biggest variety of succulent plants in the world and there is a growing serious poaching issue as the rarest succulents are being harvested and sent to China for house plants. So serious it is that species may become extinct. Farmers are locking their gates more, using video surveillance and monitoring their perimeter boundaries.
It is pleasing that Springbok is an attractive small town of just over 10,000. We have settled into Annie’s Cottages which is an amazing oasis and eclectic accommodation run by the lovely Petronella. With tired bodies and strong forecasted winds from the east we may never leave – especially after the amazing breakfast we had this morning. Enjoy the photos.
